Total Pageviews

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Not Aamir Khan! Well, that was my initial reaction when I read Mr. Perfectionist's remarks. Mainly that, the success of a song is not determined by lyricist, music composer and singer alone but by the actor as well.

Almost instantly, I felt a deluge of Hindi film songs in my mind. The first number being,"Chain se humko kabhi...., aap ne jeene na diya...." the famous Asha Bhonsle rendition from the movie 'Pran Jaye Par vachan na Jaye'. And while the song became an evergreen number, it fell prey to the long hands of the censor board and thus was never seen on the screen. And so no one knows on whom the song was picturised.

Let's go on to some more melodious numbers. Remember, the 2 famous songs of Lata Mangeshkar-"Baiyan Na Dharo..., O balama..." from the movie Dastak and yet another song from " Prem Parbat-"Ye dil aur unki..., Nigahon ke saaye..."? The heroine Rehana Sultan failed to make it big but the 2 songs remain a masterpiece till today.

There is yet another famous rendition of Asha Bhonsle-" Tumhee rehenuma ho, meri Zindagi ke..." The song picturised on Radha Saluja in the film Do Raha is still a favourite of many music lovers, but frankly how many remember the actress today?

Let's come down to the silky and velvety voice of Mohammed Rafi. Remember the famous song from the film C.I.D.-" leke pehla pehla pyar, bhar ke aakhon me khumar..."? It seems, the song was picturised on an extra!

I would also like to quote the famous Qawali from the movie, The Burning Train- "Pal do Pal ka saath Hamara, pal do pal ke yarane hain..." Sung by Mohammed Rafi, Asha Bhonsle and chorus, the scene does not have great stars except for Asha Sachdev if you insist.

No, Mr. Aamir Khan, the actors have rarely ever added value to the songs. If so, the one time hero of the movie Saraswati Chandra would not have disappeared immediately after. And this in spite of the song-"Chandan sa Badan..."becoming a big rage.

Lyricist, music composer and the singer play a pivotal role in the success of any song. The presence of a good and popular actor may just act as a boon. As in 'Kajrare, Kajrare... Bunty aur Babli. But that's that. We would only call it a rare occurrence. The all time great Actor-Director Raj Kapoor understood this too well. That's the reason, he gave so much importance to his 'voice' Mukesh.